2018 Could Be Year of the Earthquake

Although earthquakes are unpredictable, new research suggests that earthquake science is improving, and 2018 could be the year of the earthquake...

November 28, 2017

Although earthquakes are unpredictable, new research suggests that earthquake science is improving, and 2018 could be the year of the earthquake. Geologists Roger Bilham of the

University of Colorado, Boulder, and Rebecca Bendick of the University of Montana found that in the few years since 1900 that had between 25 and 30 earthquakes, they were preceded by periodic slowdowns in the Earth’s rotation.

Since the last time the planet slowed in 2011, there has been a troubling pattern of earthquakes, with the magnitude 7.1 quake in Mexico City on Sept. 19, the magnitude 7.3 quake on the Iran-Iraq border on Nov. 12, and the magnitude 7 quake off New Caledonia on Nov. 19. The research also indicates that the increase in quakes is most likely to occur near the equator, within a latitude of 30 degrees north or south.